Chris Eccles, the most senior Victorian public servant and the head of Premier Daniel Andrews' department, has resigned after being asked to hand his phone records to the state's hotel quarantine inquiry.
The records show Mr Eccles called then-police chief commissioner Graham Ashton in a key six-minute period on the day Victoria's ill-fated hotel quarantine program was established.
Chris Eccles, secretary to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, gave evidence to the inquiry into hotel quarantine.
Mr Eccles, a veteran public servant who has run departments in NSW and South Australia, said he stood by his evidence that he did not make the decision to use private security in quarantine hotels and he had resigned in order to not distract from the work of the government.
On Sunday the hotel quarantine inquiry asked Mr Eccles and other senior Department of Premier and Cabinet officials to hand over their phone records to determine whether they called Mr Ashton on March 27, the day that it was decided private security would guard returned travellers in Melbourne's quarantine hotels.
The inquiry's request came after Mr Andrews faced a series of questions about his phone records on Friday.
Mr Eccles, who told the inquiry on September 21 he did not recall whether he phoned Mr Ashton, said in a statement on Monday morning that his phone records showed he had phoned Mr Ashton at 1.17pm on March 27 and spoke to him for two minutes.
National cabinet, which Mr Eccles attended alongside the Premier, met until about 1pm as it decided a hotel quarantine program would be set up.
After that call Mr Ashton sent a text message to Australian Federal Police chief Reece Kershaw at 1.22pm, saying a plan had been set up by Mr Eccles' Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) to use private guards.
However, Mr Eccles remains adamant that he did not tell Mr Ashton that private security would be used.
"The telephone records do not in any way demonstrate that I, or indeed anyone else in DPC made a decision that private security be used in the hotel quarantine program," Mr Eccles said.
"I am absolutely certain I did not convey to Mr Ashton any decision regarding the use of private security as I was unaware any such decision had been made, and I most certainly had not made such a decision myself.
"There has been much commentary and speculation about whether I or anyone else at DPC spoke to Mr Ashton during that narrow timeframe on March 27. It is now evident I did.
"Ultimately the Board will make its conclusions regarding the matters before it. However, in the circumstances and with the heightened level of focus on this issue, I do not want a focus on me to in any way undermine the extraordinary work of the public sector as it continues to respond to the unprecedented challenges of 2020."
Shadow attorney-general Ed O’Donohue said Mr Eccles’ resignation, two weeks after former health minister Jenny Mikakos stepped down, showed the controversy and culpability around the hotels scheme was gradually moving closer to the Premier.
“With those closest to Daniel Andrews being forced to resign, more and more his story simply doesn’t add up,” Mr O’Donohue said.
“It’s now incumbent on the Premier to explain again exactly what he knew and when, and hopefully this time he doesn’t have a severe bout of amnesia.”
In response to questions from the lawyer for Victoria Police, Dan Star QC, Mr Eccles told the inquiry he had checked his phone records, which he said were not complete, to determine if he called Mr Ashton back.
"It doesn't reveal a – my phone records don't reveal the contact," Mr Eccles said. "I'm not sure how complete my phone records are. But to the extent that I was able to interrogate my phone records, they didn't reveal that contact," Mr Eccles said.
Mr Eccles' statement on Monday reveals this call did occur. Mr Eccles said in the statement that under cross-examination he provided an answer about his interactions with Mr Ashton that "was inconsistent with the totality of my evidence and the meaning I was intending to convey".
"This was not my intention, as I believe was made very clear by my written statement and further oral evidence. At the time I gave evidence I did not have in my possession my full telephone records," he wrote.
The hotel inquiry also heard Mr Eccles failed to inform Mr Andrews about an April offer from Prime Minister Scott Morrison's department for Australian Defence Force support at hotels.
In his second statement to the inquiry, dated September 16, Mr Eccles said he did not have a copy of Mr Ashton's text on his phone and "I do not now recall what, if anything, I did in response to that text message".
"No decision was made by me nor, as far as I am aware, any other person within DPC, to engage private security for use in the hotel quarantine program," Mr Eccles said in the statement.
"Accordingly, while I do not recall if I called Mr Ashton after receipt of his text message ... If I had done so I would not have (and would not have been able to) convey any decision about the use of private security as no such decision had been made by me or anyone to whom I had spoken."
Mr Eccles, who sometimes referred to himself as "Mr Wolf" after the Pulp Fiction character, thanked Mr Andrews for allowing him to serve as the head of his department.
"I would like to thank the Premier for the most immediate privilege of serving his government and the people of Victoria," he said.
"I have taken this decision with a sense of clarity that to remain in this position would be a significant distraction to the ongoing work of the Victorian public sector and the citizens of our state as we enter a critical phase of easing COVID-19 restrictions."
Paul is a reporter for The Age.
Michael is a state political reporter for The Age.
Tammy Mills is the legal affairs reporter for The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMic2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvdmljdG9yaWEtcy10b3AtcHVibGljLXNlcnZhbnQtY2hyaXMtZWNjbGVzLXJlc2lnbnMtMjAyMDEwMTItcDU2NDZ4Lmh0bWzSAXNodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLXMtdG9wLXB1YmxpYy1zZXJ2YW50LWNocmlzLWVjY2xlcy1yZXNpZ25zLTIwMjAxMDEyLXA1NjQ2eC5odG1s?oc=5
2020-10-11 23:03:00Z
52781113474110
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Victoria's top public servant Chris Eccles resigns - The Age"
Post a Comment